Pew: 81% of Blacks Say Violent Crime is Very Important to Their Midterm Vote

(CNS news) — Numerous polls show that crime is an issue important to many Americans as they prepare to vote on Nov. 8, and a new survey from the Pew Research Center shows that violent crime is “very important” to 81% of Black registered voters headed for the ballot box on Tuesday. 

In its survey, conducted Oct. 10-16, Pew discovered that 61% of all the registered voters polled said “violent crime” was a “very important” topic to deciding their vote in the 2022 congressional elections.

For whites, 56% said it was very important, 65% of Hispanics, and 81% of blacks.

“Black Americans have consistently been more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to express concern about violent crime, and that remains the case this year,” reported Pew. 

“Some 81% of Black registered voters say violent crime is very important to their midterm vote, compared with 65% of Hispanic and 56% of White voters,” said the polling firm.  “There were not enough Asian American voters in the Center’s survey to analyze independently.”

“Differences by race are especially pronounced among Democratic registered voters,” said Pew. “While 82% of Black Democratic voters say violent crime is very important to their vote this year, only a third of White Democratic voters say the same.”

In related findings, 75% of registered voters age 65+ said violent crime was very important to their vote, as did 70% of voters with a high school diploma or less. Only 44% of registered voters with a post-graduate degree said it was very important to their vote. 

Also, “Republican and GOP-leaning registered voters (73%) say violent crime is very important to their vote, compared with around half of Democratic or Democratic-leaning registered voters (49%),” reported Pew. 

“Conservative Republican voters are especially focused on the issue: About eight-in-ten (77%) see violent crime as very important to their vote, compared with 63% of moderate or liberal Republican voters, 65% of moderate or conservative Democratic voters and only about a third of liberal Democratic voters (34%),” said Pew. 

The research group also found that, “While the total U.S. violent crime rate does not appear to have increased recently, the most serious form of violent crime – murder – has risen significantly during the pandemic.”

“Both the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a roughly 30% increase in the U.S. murder rate between 2019 and 2020, marking one of the largest year-over-year increases ever recorded,” reported Pew. “The FBI’s latest data, as well as provisional data from the CDC, suggest that murders continued to rise in 2021.”

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